Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Energetic performances of an optimized passive Solar Heating Prototype

used for Tunisian buildings air-heating application
Farah Mehdaoui, Majdi Hazami ⇑, Nabiha Naili, Abdelhamid Farhat
Laboratoire des Procédés Thermique, Centre de Recherches des Technologies de l’Energie, Hammam Lif, B.P. 95, 2050 Tunis, Tunisia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper deals with the energetic performances of a Solar Heating Prototype (SHP) conceived in our
Received 24 February 2014 laboratory to prevail the Tunisian households’ air-heating needs. The conceived SHP mainly consists of
Accepted 5 July 2014 a flat-plate solar collector, solar hot water tank and an active layer integrated inside a single room. Firstly,
Available online 30 July 2014
a complete model is formulated taking into account various modes of heat transfer in the SHP by means
of the TRNSYS simulation program. To validate the TRNSYS model, experimental tests under local
Keywords: weather conditions were performed for 2 days spread over 2 months (March and April 2013). Predicted
TRNSYS 16
results were compared to the measurements in order to determine the accuracy of the simulation pro-
Floor heating
Auxiliary heating
gram. A parametric study was then achieved by means of the TRNSYS program in order to optimize
Solar fraction SHP design parameters (Collector area, collector mass flow rate, floor mass flow rate, storage tank volume
and thickness of the active layer). The optimization of all design parameters shows that to achieve a max-
imum performances from the SHP it is essential to use a solar collector with an area equal to 6 m2 area, a
collector mass flow rate equal to 100 kg h1 and a hot water storage tank with a capacity equal to 450 l.
Concerning the floor heating, the optimal values of mass flow rate and the active layer thickness are
200 kg h1 and 0.06 m, respectively. The long-term SHP performances were afterward evaluated by
means of the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data relative to Tunis, Tunisia. Results showed that
for an annual total solar insolation of about 6493.37 MJ m2 the average solar fraction obtained is about
84%. The results show also that the request of auxiliary energy is limited to the cold months of the year
chiefly from December to Mars. The results show also that the SHP reduce the relative humidity inside
the monozone room of about 40%.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
1.1. Literature review
Tunisia does not much natural resources (only an average
amount of Petroleum and gas in the south) and it depends mainly
on what it imports of fuel for its industrial energy requirements. A
major part of these demands, in fact are used for heating, cooling,
ventilation and sanitary hot water used in households heating for
taking showers and washing clothes in both urban and rural areas.
In Tunisia, Surveys conducted by STEG [1] highlight the growing
numbers of the electricity consumption in Tunisia, the rate of elec-
tricity consumption as a function of time follows a rising curve.
Fig. 1 shows that in 1990 electricity consumption is equal to
4930 GW h and reaches 8960 GW h in 2000. In 2010, this value
reaches 13,800 GW h. Henceforth, the use of solar energy through
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +216 71430044/71430215; fax: +216 71430934.
E-mail address: Hazamdi321@yahoo.fr (M. Hazami).
domestic solar water heating (DSWH) systems would likely pres-
ent great chance for decreasing the amount of conventional energy
needed .Besides, DSWH systems have a significant capability to
diminish environmental pollution arising from the use of fossil
fuels. Various studies and researches on domestic hot water
(DHW) production were introduced and developed. The most pop-
ular of these studies aims to evaluate the energetic potential
obtainable by the management and the vulgarization of DSWH sys-
tems all over the world [2–4]. The using of DSWH system in build-
ings air-heating application has also solicited a greater request
from researchers from all over the world.
Recently, solar floor heating systems has received more atten-
tion because of its advantages of the thermal regulation in the
building, less pollution and easily integrated with solar system. It
provides very comfortable, uniform heat, owing to the relatively
low temperature and the large surface area from which the heat
is radiated. It does not interfere with furnishings in a home as most
other heat distribution systems do. It can be achieved with tubing
embedded in a slab; hot water is pumped through the tubing. The

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.07.024
0196-8904/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
286 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296

Nomenclature

Ac total collector area (m2) Tc inlet temperature of fluid to collector (K)

Ai surface area of the ith tank segment (m2) Tenv temperature of the environment surrounding the tank
Cp specific heat of the fluid (kJ kg1 k1) (K)
FR overall collector heat removal efficiency factor Tf surface floor temperature (K)
I global (total) horizontal radiation (kJ h1 m2) Th temperature of the fluid entering the storage tank from
Mi mass of fluid in the ith section (kg h1) the heat source (K)
m_ flow rate at use conditions (kg h1) TL temperature of the fluid replacing that extracted to sup-
md1 collector mass flow rate (kg h1) ply the load (K)
md2 floor mass flow rate (kg h1) Ti temperature of the ith tank segment (K)
m_h fluid mass flow rate to tank from the heat source T0 outlet temperature of fluid from collector (K)
(kg h1) Tr inside design room temperature (K)
_L
m fluid mass flow rate to the load and/or of the makeup U loss coefficient between the ith tank node and its envi-
fluid (kg h1) ronment (kJ h1 m2 k1)
N number of fully mixed (uniform temperature) tank UL Overall thermal loss coefficient of the collector per unit
segments area (kJ h1 m2 k1)
q global heat transfer coefficient (W K1) UL/T Thermal loss coefficient dependency on T (kJ h1 m2
QAux auxiliary energy (MJ m2) k1)
Qc useful energy gain (MJ m2)
QL energy rate to load (MJ m2) Greek symbols
Q0 heat output upwards from the floor (W) (sa) product of the cover transmittance and the absorber
Qi rate of energy input by the heating element to the ith absorptance
segment (MJ m2) (sa)n (sa) at normal incidence
SF solar fraction (%) ai a control function defined by ai ¼ 1 if i = Sh; 0 otherwise
Sh number of the tank segment to which the fluid from the bi a control function defined by bi ¼ 1 if i = SL; 0 otherwise
P
heat source enters 1 6 Sh 6 N ci a control function defined by ci ¼ m _ h j¼i1
j¼1 aj
SL number of the tank segment to which the fluid replacing Pj¼N 1
m _ L j¼iþ1 bj (kg h )
that extracted to supply the load enters 1 6 SL 6 N
g collector efficiency (%)
Ta ambient (air) temperature (K)

slab warms up and slowly radiates heat into the room. Nematollahi
et al. [5] investigate a purposed solar heating system used for
domestic and buildings air-heating. The system consists of a flat-
plate solar collector that provides hot water connected to a vertical
water storage tank and floor heating active layer integrated inside
a tested room. The results indicate that the average efficiency of
the purposed system is about 68%. In 2012, Will et al. [6] outlines
the strengths of two modeling tools, TRNSYS and ESP-r, through a
new co-simulator in order to evaluate the potential contributions
of a seasonal solar thermal system at a single-house scal. This sys-
tem uses a small shortterm tank for DHW loads and a second, lar-
ger seasonal tank for space heating. Zhao et al. [7] proposed a
numerical study for a solar combi-system (DHW and space heat-
ing). This system was modeled through TRNSYS for a 3319 m2
building area in china. The TRNSYS model has been validated by
data from the literature. Results showed that the designed solar
system can meet 32.8% of the thermal energy demand in the
Fig. 1. Electricity consumption in Tunisia.
heating season and 84.6% of the energy consumption in non-heat-
ing season, with a yearly average solar fraction of 53.04%
In 2011 Xi et al. [8] designed a solar-assisted ground-coupled
heat pump (SAGCHP) system with heat storage for space heating
and domestic hot water (DHW) supply. Simulation by TRNSYS
aimed at achieving an advantage over a ground coupled heat pump
(GCHP) system in climatic conditions in the region of Beijing. Opti-
mization of the design shows that the heating efficiency is
improved by 26.3%.
In order to increase the fraction of solar energy used in supply-
ing energy for the operation of a building, many studies are consid-
ered in literature: Li et al. [9] simulates a solar desiccant cooling
and heating system. During this simulation, the seasonal total
heating load is about 49.0% is handled by solar energy. Kemal
et al. [10] studied the performance of the solar-powered floor heat-
ing system in a building designed in Shanghai. With respect to the
whole heating period, the solar fraction was 56%. In 2012 Kacan
et al. [11] has done an experimental study to improve the existing
solar space heating systems in Turkey. The system includes two
closed flow cycle. The results show that energy saving ratio is per-
formed between 59% and 89% monthly. Also fractional solar con-
sumption (FSC) change is investigated daily, monthly and
annually. Annual FSC value of the established system is approxi-
mately 83%.
A technical and an economic viability of a combined solar boiler
integrated system that can run alternately, or simultaneously to
reduce the yearly energy invoice was proposed by Al-Salaymeh
et al., in 2010 [12]. He shows that the space and the water heating
by using a DSWH system may reduce about 39% of home energy
consumption. In this context Chargui et al. [13] developed a model
for solar water heaters with a coupling of a thermosiphon collector
and a single house. The results obtained by TRNSYS software show
that the designed system could provide 40–70% of the hot water
demands in winter by utilizing solar energy. In 2012, Mokhtari
 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296
et al. [14] presented the study of the thermal behavior of a house
provided with a heating system per solar floor, it concludes that
the control strategy taken, (the mode on/off of the pump), is a good
strategy for radiant heat control since, it allowed the control of the
floor temperature and makes it possible to keep the room air tem-
perature in desired range. In 2011, Elmaleh et al. [15] has installed
a solar system design floor heating. The surface temperature of the
room and the temperature of the heating tube were measured.
Experimental results were compared with the theoretical results
given by TRNSYS. He noticed that the insulation has saved about
40% of the consumed fuel annually.
Elmaleh et al. [16] presented a numerical study of a local ther-
mal comportment integrating it under floor heating based on TRN-
SYS. The results showed that when the flow was reduced from
90 kg/h to 55 kg/h a slight changing happened on the room tem-
perature between (20 °C and 22 °C) and can be overcome by reduc-
ing the step between the pipes.
1.2. Context and endeavor of this paper
By the virtue of its position Tunisia has an important potential
of solar energy with a monthly average global radiation varies from
2 kW h m2 day1 for the month less sunny winter to 8 kW h m2
day1 for about the sunniest month of the summer [17]. The
climate in Tunis, Tunisia is characterized by a relatively cold
winters and relatively warm summers. In Fig. 2 is represented
the annual external ambient temperature variation. The profile of
the plot show that in cold months (October to Mars) the ambient
temperature ranges between 7 and 18 °C. In Fig. 3 is represented
the monthly average ambient temperature same as the average
monthly insolation. We notice that August is the hottest month
of the year with an average temperature of 26.8 °C and an insola-
tion about 747 MJ m2 while January is the coldest month with
an average temperature of 11.51 °C and an insolation about
280.16 MJ m2. The average annual temperature and insolation
reached in the site are 18.35 °C and 541.11 MJ m2, respectively.
Therefore, there is a necessity to uphold another type of heating
systems based on solar energy. The most important advantage of
solar energy compared to the usage of fossil fuels for DSWH pro-
duction is that it does not pollute the environment. In this context
we propose in this paper the study of the long-term performances
of a prototype used for bulidings air-heating. The system is com-
posed of a flat-plate solar collector, a storage hot water tank and
an active layer integrated inside the heated room (Fig. 4).
The endeavor of this paper is to achieve a long-term perfor-
mances investigation of an air-heating solar prototype (SHP) used
for Tunisian households by developing a simulation model by TRN-
Fig. 2. Annual variation of the external temperature.
287
900
I 28
800 Tamb
26
insolation (MJ/m2,month)
700 24
temperature (°C)
22
600
20
500 18
16
400
14
300
12
200 10
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Fig. 3. Monthly weather data for borj-cedria.
SYS program. To accomplish this investigation the TRNSYS model
need various inputs especially the SHP characteristics like the
dimensions of all components (e.g. flat-plate solar collector (FPC)
and hot water storage tank size), the FPC efficiency and storage
tank energy losses. The methodology in this work consists in:
– The determination of the experimental inputs of the TRNSYS
simulation model of the FPC.
– The carry out of an experimental tests during selected days of
Mars and April 2013 by using TRNSYS model. The objective of
these tests is the determination of the thermal behavior of the
SHP during a short-term period.
– The validation TRNSYS model presents suitable results by com-
paring the simulated and the experimental results during the
selected days of Mars and April 2013, The evaluation of the
long-term/annual performances of the SHP by introduction
the meteorological year for Tunis, Tunisia. The long-term/
annual performances investigation includes: energy collected
from the FPC, energy load, auxiliary energy and solar fraction
(SF).
2. TRNSYS system simulation
2.1. Description of the TRNSYS program
The SHP model was developed by using TRNSYS simulation pro-
gram (Fig. 5) (Table 1). The description of the building components
is assumed by Type 56. This Type permits the specification of the
walls composition, orientation and types of glazing used. This Type
defines also the initial conditions of the studied area (indoor tem-
perature and relative humidity), the control parameters of heating
and cooling as well as frees contributions. The different levels of
the building are reconstituted through cutting the thermal homo-
geneous areas. The characteristics of the walls, windows, doors,
floors and ceilings (dimensions, materials, orientation, etc.), in each
area, were obtained from architectural drawings [18]. Thermo
physical properties of each wall layer (thermal conductivity, den-
sity, specific heat, thickness, etc.) are either entered by the user
or chosen from an existing library. The beginning of the work is
to model home with a subroutine TRNBuild to define the structure
and size of the buildings (Table 2).
2.2. Procedure followed
The studies of the thermal performances of the SHP were
achieved conferring to the following approaches:
288 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296

Fig. 4. Schematic description of the experimental prototype.

Fig. 5. TRNSYS diagram relative to the SHP.

– The first approach consists in the achieving of an experimental
investigation during the same selected days of March and April
2013 in view of determining the solar collector instantaneous
efficiency and the storage tank heat loss coefficient. These
parameters are used as TRNSYS program inputs. The experi-
ments were also used to validate the TRNSYS simulation
program.
– The second approach consists in performing a simulation of the
SHP behavior by using TRNSYS program [18]. The simulation
was accomplished during selected days of March and April 2013.
– When the numerical results present an acceptable accuracy
with the experimental results, we study the evaluation of the
long-term/annual performances of the SHP according to Tunis,
Tunisia weather data.
 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296 289

Table 1
The main components of the TRNSYS simulation program.

Components Symbol Description

Type 1b (flat-plate solar collector) Fluid(water) is usually circulated through tubing to transfer heat from the absorber to an insulated water tank

Type 56a (multizone building) an active layer integrated inside the monozne room

Type 4c (storage tank) A stratified storage tank having 2 inlets and 2 outlets. It includes an auxiliary electric heaters in order to have
the desired hot water temperature

Type 3b (pump) Computes a mass flow rate using a variable control function, which must have a value between 1 and 0, and a
fixed maximum flow capacity

Type 2b (control function) Generates a control function which can have a value of 1 or 0. The value of the control signal is chosen as a
function of the difference between upper and lower temperatures

Type 65c (online plotter) Display selected system variables while the simulation is progressing. The selected variables will be displayed
in a separate plot window on the screen

Type 69b (Sky temperature) Determines an effective sky temperature

Type 33e (psychrometric) Calculate the corresponding moist air properties

Type 109 (TMY-2 weather data) A Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data bank (Type 109) is used to simulate Tunisian weather and
Meteorological data changes

Type 57 (converter) A unit conversion routine utilized to accustomed users to working with English units

Table 2
Structure and size of the buildings.

Category Area (m2) Layer Thickness (m) Conductivity (kJ h1 m1 K1) Density (kg m3) Capacity (kJ kg1 K1)
External north 16 Brick 0.15 3.2 1800 1
Concrete 0.05 7.56 2400 0.8
Gypsum 0.05 0.75 1200 1
External south 12 Brick 0.15 3.2 1800 1
Concrete 0.05 7.56 2400 0.8
Gypsum 0.05 0.75 1200 1
External east 16 Brick 0.15 3.2 1800 1
Concrete 0.05 7.56 2400 0.8
Gypsum 0.05 0.75 1200 1
External west 12 Brick 0.15 3.2 1800 1
Concrete 0.05 7.56 2400 0.8
Gypsum 0.05 0.75 1200 1
Boundary 12 Concretes 0.06 4.068 1400 1
Active layer 0.06 4.068 1400 1
Concretes 0.05 0.144 40 0.8
Insulation
Boundary 12 Concrete 0.240 7.56 2400 0.8

Qc T  Tc Tc  Ta
3. Mathematical description g¼ _ p 0
¼ mC ¼ F R ðsaÞn  F R U L ð1Þ
I  Ac I  Ac I
3.1. Solar collector
The loss coefficient UL is not exactly constant, so a better
A general equation for solar thermal collector efficiency can be expression is obtained by taking into account a linear dependency
obtained from the Hottel-Whillier equation (Attar I [19]) as: of UL versus (Tc  Ta):
290 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296

4. Experimental study

4.1. Experimental apparatus

An experimental device (Fig. 7) is mounted in CRTEn, Borj

Cedria, Tunis (Located in the north of Tunisia) in order to test the
reliability of the TRNSYS simulation program. The experimental
device consist of a flat-plate solar collector, FPC, (1) with a total
absorber surface of 2 m2, oriented N–S and tilted 45° towards the
south. The FPC is connected to a stainless steel hot water tank
(2) with 200 l storage capacity insulated with 5 cm thick of
Armaflex. Inside the hot water tank is placed two immersion heat-
ers of 3.0 kW. The electric heaters function of the heaters is con-
trolled by a thermostat placed inside the hot water storage tank.
The experimental device consists also of a monozone room
(3  4  4 m) (3). The floor (4) consists of concrete slab traversed
by a winding system composed of copper tubes. The floor is iso-
lated from the ground by a layer of 50 mm of polystyrene. The
heating flow is assured by a pump (5) a solenoid valve (6) and a
Fig. 6. Stratification hot water cylinder.
flow-meter (7) integrated at the experimental loop. A data acquisi-
tion system was installed in the laboratory to track all experimen-
tal parameters changes during the tests. Thus, 2 Pt100 sensors (8)
Qc Tc  Ta ðT c  T a Þ2 are used to measure the inlet and outlet temperature of the FPC vs
g¼ ¼ F R ðsaÞn  F R U L  F R U L=T ð2Þ local time variation. Another Pt100 sensor (9) was placed out of the
I  Ac I I
solar collector to measure the ambient air temperature. The inci-
Eq. (2) can be rewritten as: dent solar radiation was measured with a Kipp and Zonen pyrano-
metre (11) installed such that its aperture is leveled with the
Qc Tc  Ta ðT c  T a Þ2 aperture of the collector without casting shadow on the collector.
g¼ ¼ a0  a1  a2 ð3Þ
I  Ac I I The profile of temperature inside the tested room is measured by
4 Type K thermocouples (10) positioned vertically in the room
Which is the general solar collector thermal efficiency equation
(Fig. 7). All the measuring sensors were connected to a multi-chan-
used in Type 1. The thermal efficiency is defined by 3 parameters:
nel data acquisition (12) system type HP Agilent, which were
a0, a1 and a2 determined from the g plot by using the least square
stocked in a PC station (13).
method. Those 3 parameters are available for collectors rated by
Hazami et al. [20,21].
4.2. Experimental tests
3.2. Storage tank
To validate the TRNSYS simulation program of the SHP thermal
behavior a number of experiments are conducted in our laboratory
In this study, the cylindrical hot water storage tank is simulated
by Type 4c. The thermal performance of a fluid-filled sensible
– A primary outdoor experimental test was achieved in order to
energy storage tank, subject to thermal stratification, is modeled
determine the characteristics parameters of the solar collector.
by assuming that the tank consists of N fully-mixed equal volume
The test begins at 9:00 h (Local solar time) and finished at
segments, as shown in Fig. 6. An assumption, employed in this
18:00 h (The end of the solar journey). During the tests, the fol-
model, is to assume that the fluid streams flowing up and down
lowing conditions have been taken into account in order to
from each node are fully mixed before they enter each segment
enhance the feasibility of results: (i) a total solar energy higher
[18]. An energy balance written about the ith tank segment is
than 16 MJm2; (ii) the average wind speed should be lower
expressed
than 1.5 ms1 without periods of more than 30 min with con-
dT i stant velocities higher than 3 ms1 (out of this range, the collec-
Mi C p ¼ ai m
_ h C p ðT h  T i Þ þ bi m
_ L C p ðT L  T i Þ þ UAi ðT env  T i Þ
dt tors performance is sensitive to air speed); (iii) the water inlet
þ ci ðT i1  T i ÞC p þ Q i ð4Þ temperature in the system will be at 20 ± 2 °C and (iv) average
ambient temperature between 20 °C and 30 °C. The test consists
The temperatures of each of the N tank segments are deter- in varying the solar collector inlet water temperature by using a
mined by the integration of their time derivatives expressed in water/water heat pump and following the outside water tem-
the above equation. At the end of each time step, temperature perature. The difference of water temperature between the inlet
inversions are eliminated by mixing appropriate adjacent and the outlet of the solar collector permit the evaluation of the
nodes. useful energy gain and then instantaneous efficiency g changes
of the solar collector (Eq. (3)) (Hazami et al. [20,21]).
3.3. Heating loads – The second test is conducted in order to evaluate the heat loss
coefficient (Uc) of the hot water storage cylinder is determined
The under floor heating model is based on one-dimensional by an independent test (Hazami et al. [19,20]). It consists in: (i)
heat transfer concepts for internal flow in pipes as well as heat heating the water inside the stainless steel storage tank to the
transfer through a horizontal plate heated from its lower surface. value of 70 °C, then the immersion heaters were set to turn-
The amount of energy heating the space per unit floor area is rep- off,(ii) measuring the temperature decrease of the hot water
resented by Attar et al. [19]: in the stainless steel storage tank while the hot water is left
Q 0 ¼ qðT f  T r Þ ð5Þ to cool down during Dt = 24 h. UC rate is calculated as:
 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296 291

Fig. 7. Schematic description of the experimental prototype.

Cp T i  T ext – Sensitiveness and errors measurement of the flow meter are

g¼ ln
V:Dt T f  T ext
The characteristics parameters of the solar collector and the heat
loss coefficient of the hot water storage cylinder presented in
Table 3 are used as inputs parameters of the TRNSYS model.
– Another experimental test is accomplished in order to track the
SHP inlet and outlet temperature changes vs local time and the
energy supplied from the SHP. These experiments were carried
out for two selected days: (i) (07/03/2012), characterized by
heavily overcast and intermittent cloud covered sky and (ii)
(07/04/2012) characterized by a clear sky. The test begins at
0:00 h (Local solar time) when the data acquisition system is
switched on. After 24 h the test is finished.
4.3. Uncertainty analysis
In order to appraisal the accurateness of the experimental mea-
surements, an uncertainty analysis is achieved. In this study, we
evaluate the errors due to the sensitiveness of equipment and mea-
surements explained in the section 4.2. Experimental errors came
chiefly from measurement of temperature and the flow rate. The
errors are evaluated as below:
– Sensitiveness and measurement error of data acquisition sys-
tem and Pt-100 sensor are respectively, about ±0.1 °C and ±0.2%.
Table 3
Trnsys input parameters.
Parameters Value Unit
ð6Þ
respectively about ±0.1 °C and ±0.1%. In total, errors of measure-
ment of the flow rate are about ±0.2%.
5. Results and discussions
5.1. Sensibility of TRNSYS simulation program
In Fig. 8a and b is represented the variations of the inlet and the
outlet temperature of the storage tank given by the experimental
test and TRNSYS simulation program during 07/03/2013. We note
that the TRNSYS model flows, with an acceptable inaccuracy, the
measured values given by the experimental test. Indeed, the differ-
ence between the simulated and the measured values of the stor-
age tank inlet temperature is about 2–4 °C whilst the difference
between the modeled and the measured values of outlet tempera-
ture is about 1–5 °C.
A comparison between the energy supplied from the SHP
respectively given by the experimental test and TRNSYS simulation
program during the same selected days (07/03/2013) and (07/04/
2013). We note that, for the overcast cloud sky days (07/03/
2013) (Fig. 9a) and for a clear sky day (07/04/2013) (Fig. 9b), the
model slightly underestimates the measured values with accuracy
that ranges between 5% and 7% points. However, the profile of the
experimental and the TRNSYS simulation of the energy supplied
from the SHP system vs local time represent a great similitude.
The gap between the experimental and simulated results observed
in Fig. 9 can be attributed to experimental errors that are a function
of unstable weather conditions. Hence we conclude that the
TRNSYS simulation program could reproduce with an acceptable
accuracy the real behavior of the SHP.

Tested flow rate 100 kg h1 m2

Intercept efficiency, a0 0.71 % 5.2. Optimization of the SHP parameters
First order efficiency coefficient, a1 1.03 W m2 K1
First order efficiency coefficient, a2 0.02 W m2 K2
The optimization of the SHP (the solar collector, the storage
Hot water cylinder loss coefficient 1.6 W m2 K1
tank and flow among the prototype and the heating floor)
292 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296
Fig. 8. Measured and simulated temperature at: (a) inlet water storage tank and (b)
outlet water storage tank.
performances was achieved by considering the TRNSYS simulation
monthly/annual solar fraction, SF, changes. The SF is defined as
[20,21]:
Q L  Q Aux Q simulated for md1/Ac ranging from 5 to 60 kg h1 m2 (Fig. 11).
SF ¼ ¼ 1  Aux
QL QL
where QAux is the total auxiliary energy supplied to the system to
support the portion of the total load that is not provide by the solar
energy.
The first set of simulation is accomplished in order to evaluate
the suitable solar collector area (Ac). It consists in the estimation
of the monthly and annual SF value according to Ac changes. The
set of simulations are achieved for; (i) one solar collector with an
area of 2 m2, (ii) two coupled solar collectors with a total area of
about 4 m2, (iii) three coupled solar collectors with a total area of
about 6 m2 and (iv) four coupled solar collectors with a total area
of about 8 m2. During the simulation, the modification of the col-
lector areas is accomplished taking into account the initial value
the hot water cylinder volume-to-collector area ratio (V/Ac) which
is 75 l/m2 (Hazami et al. [21]). The monthly SF changes for each
total collectors area is presented in Fig. 10. The results of the first
simulation achieved for only one solar collector of 2 m2 of collected
area shows that the SF ranges between 18% and 100%. The second
rang of simulation is accomplished for a combination of 2, 3 and 4
coupled solar collectors with a total collector area equal to 4 m2,
6 m2 and 8 m2, respectively. The results of the simulation shows
that, for 4 m2, 6 m2 and 8 m2 of total collectors area, the SF ranges
between and 30–100%, 45–100% and 58–100%, respectively.
Considering the cost, space requirements and reliability issues,
Fig. 9. Variation of simulated and measured energy supplied from the DSWH
system during: (a) (07/03/2013) and (b) (07/04/2013).
6 m2 of area can be considered as the adequate size for the present
application study.
The second set of simulation is accomplished in order to deter-
mine the adequate the solar collector’s mass flow rate (md1) rela-
tively to the optimal collector area of 6 m2. The annual SF was
ð7Þ
The plot shows that SF rises rapidly as md1/Ac increases from 5
to 20 kg h1 m2. Indeed SF increases from 79% at 5 kg h1 m2
to a maximum value of approximately 84% in the range 16–
25 kg h1.m2. Then SF starts to decrease and becomes in the order
of 82% once md1/Ac is of about 60 kg h1 m2. Hence, to promise a
maximum value of SF, the flow rate md1 traversing the 6 m2 of
solar collector should be equal to the optimal value of about
100 kg h1.
Another set of simulation is accomplished in order to estimate
the optimal value of storage tank volume (V) allowing for the opti-
mal solar collector area (6 m2) and the adequate solar collector’s
mass flow rate (100 kg h1). Various ratios of (V/Ac) (16–
200 l m2) are considered during the TRNSYS simulation. In
Fig. 12 is resumed the outcome of the variation of the hot water
tank volume on SF changes. We note that, for the SHP, the annual
SF increases rapidly as V/Ac increases from 20 to 75 l m2 and
beyond the value of 140 l m2 the SF decreases. It was found that
for the values of 75 l m2 the annual SF reaches the maximum
value of about 83.6%. Considering the optimal value of the solar
collector area (6 m2), the optimal value of 75 l m2 corresponds
to 450 l which represents the optimal capacity of the storage tank
that permit the attempt of the maximum rate of SF.
The effect of floor heating’s mass flow rate (md2) on the annual
and monthly SF was also simulated for md2 ranging from 100 to
250 kg h1 (Fig. 13). The results indicate that the monthly SF
 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296 293

1,2 1,2
2 m2 150 kg.h-1
1,0 4 m2 200 kg.h-1
1,0
6 m2 250 kg.h-1
8 m2
0,8 0,8
SF (%)

SF (%)
0,6 0,6

0,4
0,4

0,2
0,2

0,0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 0,0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Months
Fig. 10. Variation of monthly SF for different collector area.
Fig. 13. Variation of the annual SF for differents flow rate to floor heating.

0,84 1,1
e=0,06m
e=0,1m
1,0
e=0,2m
0,83
0,9

0,82 0,8
SF (%)

SF (%)

0,7
0,81
0,6

0,5
0,80
0,4

0,79 0,3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
md1/A c (kg/hm2) Months

Fig. 11. Variation of the annual SF versus the collector flow rate to area ratio (md1/ Fig. 14. Variation of the annual SF for diffeerents thicknes.
Ac).

Thus we conclude that 200 kg h1 can be considered as the optimal

0,84 value of mass flow rate traversing the active layer. The effect of the
thickness (e) between the active layer and surface of floor heating
0,84
on the system performance was also studied over a range of e vary-
0,83 ing from 0.06 m to 0.2 m. The variation of the monthly SF for differ-
ent thickness (e) is represented in Fig. 14. The results show that the
0,83
thickness of 0.06 m represents the optimal value of distance
SF (%)

0,82 between active layer and exchange of area. This is explained by

the increase of the heat losses from the heating floor, when the
0,82
thickness (e) becomes greater.
0,81

0,81 5.3. Long-term performances of the optimized SHP

0,80
0 50 100
V/A c (l/m2)
Fig. 12. Variation of the annual SF of the value of the hot water tank volume to
collector area ratio (V/Ac).
increase with mass flow rate (md2). Indeed by using mass flow rate
of about 150 kg h1, the SF ranges between 26% and 100%. The
results show also that whilst md2 is equal to 200 kg h1, the SF
ranges between 45% and 100%. We note that once md2 is about
250 kg h1 there are no perceptible changes in the SF variation
about 2% and 5% observed during the period of (January to May).
150 200 The optimization of all design parameters shows that to achieve
a maximum performances from the SHP it is essential to use a solar
collector with Ac equal to 6 m2 area, a collector mass flow rate md1
equal to 100 kg h1 and a hot water storage tank with a capacity
(V) equal to 450 l. Concerning the floor heating, the optimal values
of mass flow rate (md2) and the active layer thickness (e) are
200 kg h1 and 0.06 m, respectively. In this section we intend the
appraisal of the long-term performance of the SHP by introduction
the Typical Meteorological Year data relative to Tunis, Tunisia. In
Fig. 15 is represented the monthly/yearly energy flows (The energy
collected (QC), the auxiliary energy (QAux) and the heat delivered
(QL)) and solar fraction, SF, variation through the SHP by consider-
ing the optimized parameters. Fig 15 shows clearly that the energy
294 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296

Fig. 15. SHP’s Monthly and yearly energy flows and solar fraction variation.

Table 4
Energetic analysis and monthly temperature.

Time (month) I (MJ m2 month1) Tam (°C) Qc (MJ m2 month1) QL (MJ m2 month1) Qaux (MJ m2 month1) Tair (°C) SF (%)
January 280.16 11.51 180.88 328.54 180.28 25.56 0.45
February 320.93 11.96 174.62 283.02 139.75 25.68 0.51
March 502.48 13.20 249.92 293.57 73.69 26.61 0.75
April 589.54 15.40 245.38 251.17 32.40 27.43 0.87
May 748.63 19.26 299.88 276.19 3.60 28.79 0.99
June 810.20 22.86 329.20 308.74 0.00 29.67 1.00
July 848.59 26.40 395.84 377.01 0.00 30.39 1.00
August 747.81 26.81 410.03 390.69 0.00 30.76 1.00
September 594.52 24.19 388.58 367.01 0.00 30.12 1.00
October 459.10 20.45 337.91 309.79 0.00 29.25 1.00
November 322.03 15.71 248.73 246.78 25.87 27.40 0.90
December 269.38 12.50 202.80 301.20 127.93 25.87 0.58
Total 6493.37 – 3463.77 3733.71 583.52 – –
Annual average 541.11 18.35 288.65 311.14 48.63 28.13 0.84

32 load. During the summer months (Jun, July and August) the heat
requirements are fully met by solar, hence no auxiliary is needed.
30
Indeed during the hot months (May, Jun, July, August September),
28 about 100% with an annual average of SF about 84%. The compar-
26 aison between this value of annual solar fraction and those given
Temperature (°C)

24 by literature [22–25] shows that the proposed SHP presente many

22 advantages shiftly in reducing the use of auxiliary energy in space
heating. In fact, the SHP increase the solar fraction of about 20%.
20
Also the SF achieved by the proposed SHP is slightly superior to
18
the solar faction given by Kacan et al. [11], this is explained by
16 Tamb
Tair (unheated room)
the similar meteorological data of Tunisia and Turkey [26]. How-
14 Tair (without auxiliary energy) ever, the SF is lower during the cold months (December, January
Tair (with auxiliary energy)
12 and February), ranging from 45% to 50%. We perceive also that
the heat delivered Q L is maximized in the month of August, about
10
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 390 MJ m2 (Fig. 15). Table 4 shows that the annual total value of
Months the energy load (Q L) calculated by TRNSYS program is equal to
3733.71 MJ m2.
Fig. 16. Internal air temperature changes vs months.
5.4. Building temperature and relative humidity evolution

collected (QC) during the summer season is more important com-
pared to the cold season. The annual total and annual average of
QC are respectively about 3436.77 MJ m2 and 288.65 MJ m2
(Table 4). On the other hand we noted that the monthly average
quantity of auxiliary energy added varied respectively between
180 MJ m2 and 0 MJ m2 in January and July and with a yearly
total estimated to 583.52 MJ m2 (Table 4). QAux represents about
17% of collected energy and about 15.6% of total annual energy
In order to study the influence of SHP on the thermal behavior
of the simulated room, another series of simulations was accom-
plished. Fig. 16 illustrates the air temperature changes of the sim-
ulated room with and without auxiliary heating system applies.
We notice that without making appeal to the auxiliary heating sys-
tem the monthly average internal temperature during cold months
(from December to Mars) ranges between 22 and 25 °C. When the
auxiliary heating system is activated the temperature ranges
 F. Mehdaoui et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 87 (2014) 285–296
100
90 outdoor humidity
indoor humidity
80
Relative humudity (%)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 ature inside the room without using auxiliary heating system.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Fig. 17. Variation of the monthly relative humidity indoor and inside the room.
during the same period from 25 to 28 °C. This result confirms that
the request of auxiliary energy is limited to the cold months of the
year chiefly from December to Mars. We perceive that the auxiliary
energy permit the gain of about 4 °C compared to the air temper-
ature inside the room without using auxiliary heating system.
The Fig. 16 shows also that from April to November there is no req-
uisite of auxiliary heating system. Compared to the simulated
inside air temperature variation whilst the room is not heated,
we perceive that the SHP guaranteed the gain of about 6 to 10 °C
respectively without and with auxiliary heating system.
In Fig. 17 is represented the monthly indoor and outdoor rela-
tive humidity evolution vs months. Fig. 17 schows that the outdoor
relative humidity ranges between 72% and 78% during cold months
(From October to Mars). Fig. 17 shows that use of the SHP reduces
obviously the relative humidity inside the tested room. Indeed the
relative humidity inside the tested room ranges during cold
months between 35% and 38%. The comparaison between these
results and those given by literature ([5,13]) shows that the pro-
posed SHP presente many advantages shiftly in reducing the exces-
sive humidity in Tunisian houses. In fact, the SHP reduce the
relative humidity inside the the monozone room of about 40%.
6. Conclusion
In this study, the long-term thermal and energy performances
of new passive SHP used for buldings air-heating during cold
months. This SHP mainly consists of a flate plate collector, storage
tank and an active layer integrated in a single house. A TRNSYS
simulation program was proposed in order to optimize the SHP siz-
ing design. In order to validate the TRNSYS simulation program an
experimental test was achived. The results shows that, the profile
of the experimental and the TRNSYS simulation of the energy sup-
plied from the SHP system vs local time represent a great simili-
tude. Therefore we conclude that TRNSYS simulation program
could reproduce with an acceptable accuracy the real behavior of
the SHP. Then the sizing and the optimization of the SHP (the solar
collector, the storage tank and flow among the prototype and the
heating floor) was achieved by considering the monthly/annual
solar fraction, SF, changes. The results of simulation show that
the optimal sizing of the SHP system that allows the supply of a
maximum rate of the solar fraction consist on using a collector
with Ac equal to 6 m2 area, a hot water storage cylinder with a
capacity of V equal to 450 l and a collector mass flow rate md1
equal to 100 kg h1. Concerning the floor heating, the optimal val-
ues of mass flow rate (md2) and thickness (e) between active layer
and exchange of area are 200 kg h1 and 0.06 m, respectively.
295
The long-term performances of the optimized SHP show that
the annual average SF is about 84%. The annual total and annual
average of energy collected by the solar energy collector are
respectively about 3436.77 MJ m2 and 288.65 MJ m2. We notice
that without making appeal to the auxiliary heating system the
monthly average internal temperature during cold months (from
December to Mars) ranges between 22 and 25 °C. The long-term
performances simulation of the SHP shows also that when the aux-
iliary heating system is activated the temperature ranges during
the same period from 25 to 28 °C. This result confirms that the
request of auxiliary energy is limited to the cold months of the year
chiefly from December to Mars. We perceive that the auxiliary
energy permit the gain of about 4 °C compared to the air temper-
From April to November there is no requisite of auxiliary heating
system. Compared to the simulated inside air temperature varia-
tion whilst the room is not heated, we perceive that the SHP guar-
anteed the gain of about 6 to 10 °C respectively without and with
auxiliary heating system. We found also that use of the SHP
reduces obviously the relative humidity inside the tested room.
Indeed the relative humidity inside the tested room ranges during
cold months between 35% and 38%.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Laboratoire des Procédés
Thermiques (LPT) and the Centre de Recherches et des Technologies
de l’Energie (CRTEn), Tunis, Tunisia for financially supporting the
project and for supplying some useful data.
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